The Arabidopsis Intracellular Na+/H+ Antiporters NHX5 andNHX6 Are Endosome Associated and Necessary for PlantGrowth and Development W

Elias Bassil,a,1 Masa-aki Ohto,a,1 Tomoya Esumi,a Hiromi Tajima,a Zhu Zhu,a Olivier Cagnac,a Mark Belmonte,b

Zvi Peleg,a Toshio Yamaguchi,a and Eduardo Blumwalda,2

a Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, California 95616b Department of Plant Biology, College of Biological Sciences, University of California, Davis, California 95616

Intracellular Na+/H+ antiporters (NHXs) play important roles in cellular pH and Na+ and K+ homeostasis in all eukaryotes.

Based on sequence similarity, the six intracellular Arabidopsis thaliana members are divided into two groups. Unlike the

vacuolar NHX1-4, NHX5 and NHX6 are believed to be endosomal; however, little data exist to support either their function or

localization. Using reverse genetics, we show that whereas single knockouts nhx5 or nhx6 did not differ from the wild type,

the double knockout nhx5 nhx6 showed reduced growth, with smaller and fewer cells and increased sensitivity to salinity.

Reduced growth of nhx5 nhx6 was due to slowed cell expansion. Transcriptome analysis indicated that nhx5, nhx6, and the

wild type had similar gene expression profiles, whereas transcripts related to vesicular trafficking and abiotic stress were

enriched in nhx5 nhx6. We show that unlike other intracellular NHX proteins, NHX5 and NHX6 are associated with punctate,

motile cytosolic vesicles, sensitive to Brefeldin A, that colocalize to known Golgi and trans-Golgi network markers. We

provide data to show that vacuolar trafficking is affected in nhx5 nhx6. Possible involvements of NHX5 and NHX6 in

maintaining organelle pH and ion homeostasis with implications in endosomal sorting and cellular stress responses are

discussed.

INTRODUCTION

Na+/H+ antiporters (NHXs) play important roles in pH regulation,

Na+ and/or K+ homeostasis, and the regulation of cell volume in

cells of diverse organisms ranging from bacteria to humans.

NHXs catalyze the electroneutral exchange of Na+ or K+ for H+

using the electrochemical H+ gradient to direct inwardmovement

of Na+ or K+ in exchange for luminal H+. NHXs are integral

membrane proteins residing in the plasma membrane (Shi et al.,

2000) and in endosomal compartments and vacuoles (Apse

et al., 1999; Pardo et al., 2006; Apse andBlumwald, 2007; Hamaji

et al., 2009). They belong to the monovalent cation/proton

antiporter CPA1 family of transporters (Maser et al., 2001). With

the exception of yeast, which contains a single NHX gene, all

eukaryotes sequenced to date containmultiple isoforms of NHX-

like proteins designated as Na+/H+ exchangers (NHEs) (Brett

et al., 2005a). In mammalian systems, organelle-specific distri-

bution of NHE isoforms are required for specialized subcellular

functions (Orlowski and Grinstein, 2007).

In Arabidopsis thaliana, intracellular NHXs are encoded by

a multigene family consisting of NHX1 through NHX6 and are

classified into two subgroups (Pardo et al., 2006). Two additional

members of the family, NHX7/SOS1 and NHX8, are plasma

membrane bound and do not localize to endomembranes (Shi

et al., 2002). Based on their amino acid similarity, NHX1 to 4

cluster into one group, while NHX5 and 6 cluster as a separate

group (Yokoi et al., 2002; Aharon et al., 2003; Brett et al., 2005a;

Pardo et al., 2006). NHXs play diverse roles in processes includ-

ing pH homeostasis in flowers (Yamaguchi et al., 2001), cellular

K+ homeostasis (Leidi et al., 2010), cell expansion (Apse et al.,

2003), vesicular trafficking and protein targeting (Bowers et al.,

2000; Sottosanto et al., 2004; Brett et al., 2005b), as well as salt

tolerance (Apse et al., 1999). Whereas NHX1 remains the most

studied of the intracellular NHXs, the roles of NHX2 to 6 remain

largely unknown.

NHX5 and NHX6 localization and function have been postu-

lated on the basis of sequence similarity to NHEs (Brett et al.,

2005a) and are thought to be functionally different from other

intracellular NHXs. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that NHX5

and NHX6 belong to a clade of endosomal antiporters that

include tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) Sl NHX2, yeast (Sac-

charomyces cerevisiae) ScNHX1, and human (Homo sapiens) Hs

NHE6, 7, and 9 (Brett et al., 2005a; Pardo et al., 2006). The Sl

NHX2 protein colocalized with prevacuolar compartment (PVC)

and Golgi markers in both yeast and tomato (Venema et al.,

2003), as well as to small vesicles expressed transiently in onion

epidermal cells (Rodriguez-Rosales et al., 2008). Mammalian Hs

NHE6, 7, and 9 are localized in early recycling endosomes, the

trans-Golgi network (TGN), and late recycling endosomes, re-

spectively (Numata and Orlowski, 2001; Nakamura et al., 2005;

1 These authors contributed equally to this work.2 Address correspondence to eblumwald@ucdavis.edu.The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to thefindings presented in this article in accordance with the policy describedin the Instructions for Authors (www.plantcell.org) is: Eduardo Blumwald(eblumwald@ucdavis.edu).WOnline version contains Web-only data.www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.110.079426

The Plant Cell, Vol. 23: 224–239, January 2011, www.plantcell.org ã 2011 American Society of Plant Biologists

Ohgaki et al., 2008), while in yeast, Sc Nhx1 localized to the PVC

(Nass and Rao, 1998; Bowers et al., 2000; Ali et al., 2004; Brett

et al., 2005b). Although these results would predict a subcellular

localization of NHX5 and NHX6 in endosomes, TGN, and/or PVC

in plants, direct evidence supporting their localization and func-

tion is lacking.

Here, we used a genetic approach to investigate NHX5 and

NHX6 functions. We found evidence showing that NHX5 and

NHX6 are critical for cell expansion, proliferation, and response

to salt.We also show that NHX5 andNHX6 are localized tomotile

endosomal compartments, likely to be the Golgi and TGN. Our

data support the role of NHX5 andNHX6 in vesicular trafficking to

the vacuole.

RESULTS

NHX5 and NHX6 Are Putative Endosomal Na+ (K+)/H+

Antiporters Expressed throughout Plant Development

NHX5 is a protein of;521 amino acids with a molecular mass of

57 kD, whereas NHX6 contains 535–amino acid residues with a

molecular mass of 59 kD. Depending on the software used

(TMHMM; http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/TMHMM/ or http://

wolfpsort.org/), NHX5 is predicted to comprise between 9 and 10

putative transmembrane domains, whereas NHX6 is thought to

have eight to nine transmembrane domains (see Supplemental

Figure 1 online). A sequence comparison indicated that mem-

bers of the group containing NHX1-4 are >51% similar among

themselves, whereas NHX5 and NHX6 are >68% similar to each

other but <30% similar to NHX1-4 (see Supplemental Figure

1 online).

The expression of NHX5 and NHX6 was examined in different

organs and developmental stages. Both NHX5 and NHX6 were

expressed in flowers, flower buds, stems, rosette leaves, and

roots. The overall level of expression NHX5 was slightly higher

than that of NHX6 except in siliques (see Supplemental Figure 2

online). The nearly ubiquitous expression of NHX5 and NHX6

could be confirmed in publicly available expression data (i.e.,

http://bbc.botany.utoronto.ca/efp/cgi-bin/efpWeb.cgi).

Generation of nhx5 nhx6 Double Knockouts

To investigate the function of NHX5 and NHX6, we generated

knockout mutants using available T-DNA insertion lines. For

each gene, two separate T-DNA lines were selected for single

knockouts and designated as nhx5-1, nhx5-2, nhx6-1, and nhx6-2

(see Methods). Single knockouts were genotyped and back-

crossed two times before their subsequent use in crosses to

generate the two independent double knockout lines nhx5-1

nhx6-1 and nhx5-2 nhx6-2 (see Supplemental Figure 3 online).

Expression of NHX5 and NHX6 in all knockouts was confirmed

with quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR; see Supplemental Figure

3 online). Furthermore, the expression of NHX1, NHX2, NHX3,

andNHX4, as quantified by qPCR, did not change significantly in

either single or double nhx5 nhx6 knockouts (see transcriptional

profiling section below).

The single knockouts nhx5 and nhx6 did not show any obvious

growth phenotypes or developmental defects when grown in

either soil (Figure 1) or plates (Figure 4; see Supplemental Figure

6 online). The double knockout nhx5 nhx6, however, displayed

remarkable growth and developmental phenotypes (Figures 1A

to 1D). Under either short (SDS) or long days (LDs), nhx5 nhx6was

drastically smaller and displayed much slowed development

compared with wild-type plants (Figures 1E and 1F). Growth

differences became more pronounced over time such that at 35

d, the rosette diameter of nhx5 nhx6 was 20% that of the wild

type (Figure 1E). Compared with the wild type, double knockout

plants bolted;3.5 weeks later under LDs and did so at half the

number of rosette leaves (Figure 1). In general, flowering time in

Arabidopsis closely coincides with rosette leaf number. The nhx5

nhx6 double mutant displayed a lack of correlation between

flowering time and leaf number because it flowered temporally

later but developmentally sooner, probably due to slowed cell

proliferation. Also, root growth was similarly inhibited in nhx5

nhx6 (see Supplemental Figure 4 online). All phenotypes dis-

cussed above were identical in both of the independently gen-

erated double knockouts lines investigated (i.e., nhx5-1 nhx6-1

and nhx5-2 nhx6-2). Importantly, transformation of nhx5 nhx6

with either C terminus–tagged NHX5-YFP (for yellow fluorescent

protein) orNHX6-GFP (for green fluorescent protein) rescued the

nhx5 nhx6 phenotype because both NHX5-YFP nhx5 nhx6 and

NHX6-GFP nhx5 nhx6 resembled the wild type/single knockouts

(Figure 1G; see Supplemental Figure 5 online), thus indicating

that C-terminal tagging of NHX5 or NHX6 did not affect protein

function.

nhx5 nhx6 Displayed Decreased Leaf Cell Size and Cell

Number but Unaltered Cell Identity

Given the slow growth and development of nhx5 nhx6, we sought

to compare cellular organization and architecture in leaves.

Cross sections through themidvein of nhx5 nhx6 leaves revealed

a profound reduction in cell size and number (Figure 2). Meso-

phyll cell size and cell number (Figures 2A to 2C)were reduced by

almost 50% in the double knockout comparedwith thewild type.

To determine if this effect was cell specific, we also quantified

xylem cell size and number in the same cross sections and

determined a similar trend (Figures 2D to 2F). The area of

palisade mesophyll cells (calculated through a cross section) of

leaf margins in nhx5 nhx6 cells was 55% of that of wild-type

palisade cells (Figures 2G to 2I). Similar to other cell types, the

area of epidermal cells was also reduced. Quantitative estimates

of cell area, calculated from images taken of epidermal peels,

indicated that the average cell area of nhx5 nhx6was 26%of that

of wild-type cells (Figures 2J to 2L). Secondary cell wall depo-

sition as assayed by toluidine blue-O staining appeared consid-

erably reduced in the double mutant (Figure 2E; blue color).

Chloroplasts within mesophyll cells were stained with amido

black 10B and appeared more concentrated in the double

knockout (Figure 2H) probably because of the smaller cell size

(Figure 2C), which correlated well with the dark green color seen

in nhx5 nhx6 leaves (Figure 1D). In nhx5 nhx6 leaves, cells

remained highly organized, suggesting that cell identity was

not affected. These results indicate that NHX5 and NHX6 play

Endosomal NHX5 and NHX6 225

fundamental role(s) in cell proliferation and cell expansion that

are not specific to cell differentiation.

Slower Tip Growth and Cytoplasmic Streaming in nhx5

nhx6Mutants

To obtain additional insight into the causes of the nhx5 nhx6

phenotype, we made observations at the single-cell level. Elon-

gating root hair cells are an excellent system to study dynamic

processes because they grow rapidly and are highly dependent

on profuse synthesis and trafficking of membrane and cell wall

material. The growth of Arabidopsis on standing microscopic

slides enabled the noninvasive live-cell imaging of individual cells

(see Methods for more details). We measured root hair cell

elongation by quantifying the rate of tip growth from time-lapse

movies taken while the root hairs were under microscopy ob-

servation (see Supplemental Movie 1 online). For meaningful

comparisons, only emerging root hair bulges from similar regions

of the primary root elongation zone in actively growing seedlings

were used. The average rate of tip growth (measured over 1 h) in

nhx5 nhx6 was considerably slower (0.23 6 0.03 mm s21) than

that of comparable wild-type root hairs (0.9 6 0.14 mm s21)

(Figure 3A). Similar to whole-plant growth, the cumulative length

of root hair cells increased progressively over the observation

period such that 60min after emergence, wild-type root hair cells

were 5 times longer than double knockout root hair cells (Figures

3B and 3C). Oscillations in the tip growth rates, due to the known

pulse growth nature of hair cells (Hepler et al., 2001, also did not

appear to be affected in nhx5 nhx6 (Figure 3A). Time-lapse

movies of extending hair cells, shown in Figure 3C, are included

online (see Supplemental Movie 1 online).

Cytoplasmic streaming of actively growing wild-type root hair

cells appears as a tip directed stream of cytoplasm intermixed

with vacuolar strands. Both anterograde and retrograde cycling

of vesicles to and from the tip are readily apparent. A comparison

of such cytoplasmic streaming, however, indicated that in nhx5

nhx6 root hairs, streaming appeared to be much slower and

without its characteristic directionality toward the tip (i.e., lacking

polarity) (see Supplemental Movie 2 online).

nhx5 nhx6 Is Salt Sensitive

Given the known role of NHX in salt responses (Apse et al., 1999),

the sensitivity of nhx5 nhx6 double mutants to salt stress was

also investigated.When 2-week-old seedlingswere transplanted

from control media (1 mMNaCl) to 150 mMNaCl–supplemented

plates and grown further for 2 weeks, growth differences be-

tween the double knockout and the wild type became evident

(Figure 4). Before transplant, nhx5 nhx6 had 70% of the fresh

weight of wild-type plants, but after 2 weeks of growth on salt,

fresh weight of nhx5 nhx6 was only 43% of that of the wild type.

The fresh weight of nhx5 nhx6 at 150 mM NaCl was only 38% of

that of plants grown on 1 mM NaCl, whereas in wild-type plants,

fresh weight at 150 mM NaCl was 72% of that in 1 mM NaCl

media. In contrast with nhx5 nhx6, the sensitivity to salt of the

single knockouts nhx5 and nhx6 did not differ from the wild type

(Figure 4). Interestingly other double knockouts combiningNHX5

and the vacuolar NHXmembersNHX1 andNHX3 (i.e., the double

Figure 1. Growth and Development of nhx5 nhx6 Double Mutants.

(A) Phenotype of nhx5 nhx6 double mutants when grown on soil (14 d)

under LDs (16 h light/8 h dark). Initially, plants were germinated on plates

and grown for 14 d (12 h light/12 h dark) before transplanting to soil.

(B) to (D) Representative close-up images of individual wild-type (B) and

nhx5 nhx6 ([C] and [D]) plants taken at 35 d from planting and growth

under LDs.

(E) Size of the wild type and nhx5 nhx6 (average diameter of rosette)

measured over 5 weeks of growth in LDs or SDs (8 h light/16 h dark).

(F) Visiblenumberof rosette leavesofplants in (E)countedat35dafterplant-

ingwhenplantsaregrownundereitherLDs (toppanel) orSDs (bottompanel).

(G) Transformation of nhx5 nhx6 (bottom left) with either NHX5-YFP

(middle top panel) or NHX6-GFP (middle bottom panel) rescues the

phenotype. The single knockouts nhx5 and nhx6 (right panels) and

the wild type are included for comparison. Representative images of

5-week-old T2 transformants grown in soil are shown.

Bars = 1 cm in (B) to (D). Error bars are SD; n = 10.

226 The Plant Cell

Figure 2. Anatomical Structure and Quantification of Cell Size and Cell Number in the Wild Type and the nhx5 nhx6 Double Knockout.

(A) Median longitudinal section of a wild-type leaf.

(B) Median longitudinal section of an nhx5 nhx6 leaf.

(C) Quantification of mesophyll cell size and number in the wild type and nhx5 nhx6 determined from sections in (A) and (B).

(D) High-magnification image of (A) shows secondary cell wall deposition (blue color) in vascular bundles as determined by toluidine blue-O staining.

(E) High-magnification section of (B) showing staining of vascular bundles in nhx5 nhx6 (as described in [D]).

(F) Quantification of xylem diameter and vessel number in wild-type and nhx5 nhx6 sections from (D) and (E).

(G) Wild-type leaf cross section showing palisade mesophyll cells.

(H) nhx5 nhx6 leaf cross section showing smaller palisade mesophyll cells.

(I) Quantification of palisade cell size in (G) and (H).

(J) Epidermal peel of a wild-type leaf.

(K) Epidermal peel of an nhx5 nhx6 leaf.

(L) Quantification of the area of epidermal cells in the wild type and nhx5 nhx6 from peels in (J) and (K).

(A), (B), (E), and (F) were stained with toluidine blue-O for secondary cell wall deposition and visualization of general histological organization of cells.

Leaf margins were stained with periodic acid–Schiff for total carbohydrates and counterstained with amido black 10B for protein. At least 10 different

leaf sections were used for the quantification of cell size and number. Bars = 80 mm in (A) and

(B), 10 mm in (D) and (E), 30 mm in (G) and (H), and 50 mm in (J) and (K). Asterisks indicate significant difference (P # 0.05; t test). Error bars are SD;

n = 10.

Endosomal NHX5 and NHX6 227

knockouts nhx1 nhx5 and nhx3 nhx5) also did not differ consid-

erably from the wild type in their response to salt (see Supple-

mental Figure 6 online). At germination, nhx5 nhx6 displayed

even greater sensitivity to salt, evidenced by a nearly complete

arrest of growth after cotyledon emergence, followed by slight,

if any, seedling establishment when sown on 100 mM NaCl–

supplemented plates (see Supplemental Figure 6 online).

Subcellular Localization of NHX5 and NHX6

To determine the subcellular localization of NHX5 and NHX6, we

generated C-terminal translational fusions between cDNA se-

quences and YFP for NHX5 or GFP for NHX6, driven by the 35S

promoter. All lines expressing NHX5-YFP and NHX6-GFP in the

nhx5 nhx6 background were indistinguishable from wild-type

plants (Figure 1G), indicating that the fusion proteins were

functional. We examined the fluorescence pattern in seedlings

of at least six independently generated lines of NHX5-YFP and

NHX6-GFP using confocal laser scanning microscopy. In all cell

types examined, a punctate highlymotile pattern, consistent with

trafficking endosomal bodies, was found in both NHX5-YFP and

NHX6-GFP (Figure 5; see Supplemental Figure 7 online). The

reporter-associated signals for NHX5 andNHX6were identical to

each other in all independent lines examined. Particularly inter-

esting were the prominent fluorescence patterns of trichomes,

guard cells, and columella cells of the root tip and cells proximal

to the quiescent center that were devoid of any detectable

fluorescence (see Supplemental Figure 7 online). In elongating

root hair cells, trafficking of NHX5 (and NHX6) positive bodies

was especially rapid in both the anterograde and retrograde

directions, as shown in Supplemental Movie 3 online. In all

NHX5-YFP and NHX6-GFP lines examined, no signal associated

with vacuoles was detected in any cell type observed. These

data strongly support the notion that NHX5 and NHX6 reside in

trafficking vesicles of the endomembrane system and not in

vacuoles.

The lipophilic styryl dye FM4-64 is frequently used as a tracer

for endocytotic trafficking and is a useful tool for endomembrane

studies (Geldner et al., 2003; Samaj et al., 2005). Application of 4

mM FM4-64 to NHX5-YFP and NHX6-GFP resulted in a small

fraction of NHX-positive bodies that colocalized with FM4-64–

labeled endosomes when monitored after either 10 or 40 min

(Figure 5B; see Supplemental Figure 8 online). Application of the

fungal toxin Brefeldin A (BFA), a vesicle trafficking inhibitor

(Nebenfuhr et al., 2002), caused the quick aggregation of NHX

positive bodies into larger vesicular agglomerations, so-called

BFA bodies, that were also costained with FM4-64 (Figures 5E to

5G). The response to BFA was identical in NHX5 and NHX6

reporter lines and was consistent with the notion that NHX5 and

NHX6 may be localized to the Golgi, TGN, and/or other endo-

somal compartments.

To further asses NHX5 and NHX6 subcellular localization,

crosses of NHX5-YFP and NHX6-GFP to other characterized

reporters were performed. We selected VHA-a1, subunit a1 of

the vacuolar H-ATPase (V-ATPase) (Dettmer et al., 2006), and

SYP61, a syntaxin member of the SNARE family of proteins

(Robert et al., 2008; Viotti et al., 2010), both TGN resident proteins,

the syntaxin SYP32, a Golgi marker (Bassham et al., 2008;

Geldner et al., 2009), as well as Sorting Nexin1 (SNX1), a marker

of PVCs (Jaillais et al., 2008). Colocalization experiments of the

resulting T1 double reporter seedlings, coexpressing combina-

tions of NHX5 or NHX6 with the above-mentioned reporters, are

shown in Figure 6. Quantification of the extent of colocalization

was assessed as described inMethods using intensity correlation

analysis (Li et al., 2004), which resulted in a quotient (ICQ) thatwas

used to compare the relative colocalization between the different

Figure 3. Rate of Tip Growth of Elongating Root Hair Cells in the Wild

Type and the nhx5 nhx6 Knockout.

(A) Root hair growth rate of representative hair cells from wild-type and

nhx5 nhx6 seedlings monitored over 1 h.

(B) Cumulative growth of root hairs from wild-type and nhx5 nhx6

seedlings after 1 h of measurement.

(C) Images depicting the progression of wild-type and nhx5 nhx6 root

hair elongation at time 0, 25, and 59 min after measurement began.

Three-day-old seedlings, initially germinated on solidified media and

then transferred to vertical slides (as described in Methods) were used

for growth measurements. Seedlings were allowed to acclimate to new

conditions for 12 h before selecting emerging root hair initials for growth

measurements. Only seedlings showing vigorous root growth after

acclimation were used, and the measurements were always performed

at the same time of day. The wild type and nhx5 nhx6 double knockouts

were grown on the same slides. Elongation was estimated by tracking

the extension of root hair tips in a sequence of acquired images using

MetaMorph (Molecular Devices). Root hair lengths are the means (6SE of

10 root hairs) measured from 10 different seedlings. Corresponding time-

lapse movies are included as Supplemental Movie 1 online.

228 The Plant Cell

double reporter lines. In root hair cells of NHX6-GFPVHA-a1-RFP,

the fluorescence pattern of NHX6 and VHA-a1 overlapped signif-

icantly (ICQ = 0.397 6 0.07), indicating high colocalization be-

tween the two proteins (Figures 6A to 6C). Addition of 25 mMBFA

caused the aggregation of both NHX6-GFP and VHA-a1-RFP into

characteristic BFA compartments containing both marker pro-

teins (see Supplemental Figure 8F online). A similar high degree of

colocalization was also observed between NHX5 and VHA-a1

(ICQ = 0.36 6 0.09; Figures 6D to 6F). Colocalization between

NHX6 and SYP32, the Golgi marker, was also substantial (ICQ =

0.411; Figures 6G to 6I), suggesting that NHX6 may also reside in

the Golgi. The application of BFA to the NHX6 SYP32 double

reporter indicated that NHX6 ismore sensitive to BFA than SYP32

because we observed that NHX6 aggregated into BFA bodies

sooner than did SYP32 and that NHX6 localized to the core of the

bodies, whereas SYP32 decorated their periphery (see Supple-

mental Figure 8L online). In the double reporter NHX5-YFP

SYP61-CFP, colocalization between NHX5 and SYP61 was sig-

nificant (ICQ = 0.322 6 0.08; Figures 6J to 6L); however, little

colocalization between NHX6 and SNX1-positive bodies was

seen in the double reporter NHX6-GFP SNX1-RFP (ICQ = 0.24

6 0.06; Figures 6M to 6O), suggesting that NHX6 may not be

significantly associated with the PVC. By transiently expressing

NHX5-RFP in stably transformedNHX6-GFPplants,we found that

NHX5 and NHX6 colocalized significantly (ICQ = 0.402 6 0.09;

Figures 6P to 6U).

The subcellular localization of NHX6 was confirmed using

immunogold electron microscopy of thin sections of root tips

probed with a GFP antibody. Gold particles associated with

endomembranes near the TGN, as well as with vesicular bodies

budding from the TGN, were clearly observed (Figures 6V and

6W). Cells of wild-type seedlings did not show labeling above

background (Figure 6X). Taken together, these results suggested

that NHX5 and NHX6 are associated with endosomal compart-

ments of the Golgi and TGN but not with the PVC.

Trafficking to the Vacuole Is Affected in nhx5 nhx6

We used the endocytotic tracer FM4-64 to monitor further and

compare endosomal trafficking between the wild type and nhx5

nhx6. In Arabidopsis root tip cells, FM4-64 initially labels the

plasma membrane and becomes internalized into endosomal

bodies that traffic throughout the endomembrane system before

ending in the vacuole(s) (Samaj et al., 2005). Using actively

growing (i.e., trafficking) roots, we monitored and compared the

progression of endomembrane labeling in nhx5 nhx6 root tip

cells. Tominimize any differences due to handling, wild-type and

nhx5 nhx6 seedlings were grown on the same slides and treated

identically (described in Methods). Labeled endosomes became

evident in bothwild-type and nhx5 nhx6 roots,;15min following

FM4-64 application (arrows in Figures 7A and 7B). Under these

conditions, labeling of vacuolar compartments in wild-type root

tip cells occurred at;70 to 80 min following FM4-64 application

(arrowheads, Figure 7C), whereas in nhx5 nhx6 root tip cells,

labeling of vacuoles did not occur even after 95 min (Figure 7D).

In fact, we consistently observed that in nhx5 nhx6, only minor

labeling of vacuoles was evident, even after 180 min, with most

FM4-64 label remaining predominantly as punctate endosomal

bodies, similar to cells observed at 10 to 15 min after FM4-64

application (Figures 7A and 7B). The delay or lack of vacuolar

staining in nhx5 nhx6 suggested that the step from the TGN to a

later endosomal compartment (PVC) or vacuole may be either

inhibited or severely delayed. We also tested whether early

endocytotic steps or recycling processes may be affected in

nhx5 nhx6 by pretreating roots with BFA before staining with

FM4-64 and monitored for the progression of endomembrane

labeling as above. In cells of BFA-treated root tips, large BFA

bodies were visible within 15 min of FM4-64 labeling, in the wild

type. In nhx5 nhx6 roots, fewer, smaller BFA bodies formed and

correlated to the fewer number of endosomal bodies observed in

nhx5 nhx6 (Figure 7B). BFA agglomerations also took consider-

ably longer to form in nhx5 nhx6 (30 min compared with 15 min in

the wild type; Figures 7E and 7F). These data suggest that early

endocytotic steps and processes leading to the formation of

Figure 4. Response of Single and Double Knockouts of nhx5 and nhx6

to Salt.

Plants were sown on plates with 1 mM NaCl and grown for 14 d (12 h

light/dark) and transplanted to new plates containing either 1 mM NaCl

([A], [C], [E], and [G]) or 150 mM NaCl ([B], [D], [F], and [H]) and grown

for another 2 weeks.

(A) and (B) The wild type.

(C) and (D) The single knockout nhx5-1.

(E) and (F) The single knockout nhx6-1.

(G) and (H) The double knockout out nhx5-1 nhx6-1.

(I) Tissue fresh weight of single and doublemutants of plants shown in (A)

to (H). Images of nhx5-2 and nhx6-2 are included in Supplemental Figure

4 online. Asterisks indicate significant difference between treatments

for the indicated genotype (P # 0.01; t test). Values are the mean 6 SD;

n = 12.

Endosomal NHX5 and NHX6 229

BFA compartments were probably not affected significantly in

nhx5 nhx6.

Thedelay in labeling of the tonoplast with FM4-64prompted us

to ask whether real vacuolar cargo, such as carboxypeptidase

(CPY), might be missorted in nhx5 nhx6 (Yamaguchi et al., 2003).

We investigated possible missorting to the vacuole using yeast

carboxypeptidase fused to GFP in transiently transformed seed-

lings. In cotyledons of wild-type seedlings, fluorescence was

evident within mesophyll (Figure 7G) and epidermal cells (see

Supplemental Figure 9A online) and was coincident with chloro-

plast localization. In nhx5 nhx6, however, GFP fluorescence was

not detected within cells, as evidenced by the presence of

chloroplasts, but rather in the apoplastic space surrounding

individual mesophyll (Figure 7H) or epidermal cells (see Supple-

mental Figure 9B online). These data suggest that CPY is

missorted to the apoplast in nhx5 nhx6.

Transcriptional Profiling of nhx5 and nhx6 Knockouts

Implicate Roles in Stress Response

To investigate possible functions of NHX5 and NHX6, we com-

pared the expression profiles of two single knockouts (nhx5-2

and nhx6-2), the two independently generated double knockout

lines nhx5-1 nhx6-1 (F-27) and nhx5-2 nhx6-2 (F-37), and thewild

type using the Affymetrix ATH1 genome array platform (see

Methods for details on transcript analysis). The analysis of

expressed transcripts in the five genotypes generated the ex-

pression profile shown in Figure 8. Within main clusters of gene

expression, striking similarities between the wild type and the

single knockouts and marked differences between the two nhx5

nhx6 lines and the wild type, nhx5, and nhx6 existed (Figure 8A).

The two double knockout lines had highly similar expression

patterns and differed by only 28 transcripts showing a significant

fold change larger than log2 0.5. Similarly, only nine transcripts

were significantly different between nhx5 and nhx6. The number

of transcripts that were differentially expressed between nhx5

and the wild type and nhx6 and the wild type were 89 and 205,

respectively.

Given the similarities in gene expression between single

knockouts and the wild type (as well as their phenotypes), we

proceeded to analyze transcripts that differed significantly be-

tween the double knockout nhx5-2 nhx6-2 (F-37) and the wild

type. Analysis of variance revealed 1728 transcripts that were

differentially expressed in the double knockout compared with

the wild type. Of those, 1079 transcripts were downregulated

and 649 were upregulated in nhx5 nhx6. A short list of the most

significantly changed transcripts (log2 fold change > 1.5) is

included in Supplemental Table 1 online.

To infer biological function of differentially expressed tran-

scripts in nhx5 nhx6, we performed an enrichment analysis of

Gene Ontology (GO) terms (Brady et al., 2007). Data revealed a

number of significantly enriched GO terms in both the up- and

downregulated genes. A table including both up- and down-

regulated GO terms is included as Supplemental Table 2 online.

We focused on two major functional groups of transcripts

(Figures 8B and 8C). A number of GO categories related to

stress responses, including response to abscisic acid (ABA)

stimulus, desiccation, and salt stress, were among the most

enriched. Transcripts associated with ABA responses were

particularly enriched in nhx5 nhx6, including the upregulation of

ABA receptors (RCAR 8, 10, and 12) and a downregulation of

other ABA signaling components, such as ABI1, ABI2, HAB1,

GPA1, and PLDa, among others (Figure 8C). The representation

and large expression fold change of ABA-related genes suggest

Figure 5. NHX5 Localizes to Punctate, Highly Motile Endosomal Bodies in Elongating in Root Hair Cells.

(A) and (E) Root hairs of the NHX5-YFP reporter are shown in green.

(B) and (F) Costaining with 4 mM FM4-64 (10 min).

(C) and (G) Overlay of NHX5-YFP and FM4-64.

(D) and (H) Respective differential interference contrast images of the same root hair cells shown in (A) to (C) and (E) to (G).

(A) to (D) Untreated root hair.

(E) to (H) Root hair cell imaged after 30 min of 25 mM BFA treatment.

Arrows point to NHX5 positive motile endosomal bodies. Arrowheads point to BFA-induced agglomerations (so-called BFA compartments) of NHX5

and FM4-64–labeled endosomes. Bar = 10 mm. A time-lapse movie indicating the motile nature of NHX5 positive bodies can be found in Supplemental

Movie 3 online.

230 The Plant Cell

a strong link to NHX5 and NHX6 functions. Another class of

transcripts showing significantly altered expression in nhx5 nhx6

included genes known to have roles in vesicular trafficking

(Figure 8B). These included members of the RAB and ARF

GTPase family (Rab5 members RABF2 and RAB3Ge), SNARE

proteins (VTI12 and NPSN12), as well as vacuolar sorting recep-

tors (VPS35, VPS20, and VSR1), among others (Figure 8B). The

expression of all transcripts discussed above and shown in

Figures 8B and 8C has been verified with qPCR in all of the five

genotypes that were examined. Genes belonging to the GO

Figure 6. Colocalization of NHX5 and NHX6 with Endosomal Markers and Localization to Subcellular Compartments.

Images are confocal scans of double reporter lines coexpressing the following.

(A) to (C) NHX6-GFP and VHA-a1-RFP.

(D) to (F) NHX5-YFP and VHA-a1-RFP.

(G) to (I) NHX6-GFP and SYP32-RFP.

(J) to (L) NHX5-YFP and SYP61-CFP.

(M) to (O) NHX6-GFP and SNX1-RFP.

(P) to (U) Colocalization of NHX5-RFP and NHX6-GFP (R) in cotyledon epidermal cells of NHX6-GFP seedlings (shown in [Q] and [T]) transiently

expressing NHX5-RFP (shown in [P] and [S]). (S) to (U) are close-ups of a region in (P) to (R) respectively.

Single-channel images are NHX6-GFP ([A], [G], [M], [Q], and [T]), NHX5-YFP ([D], [J], [P], and [S]), VHA-a1-RFP ([B] and [E]), SYP32-RFP (H), SYP61-

CFP (K), and SNX1-RFP (N). The extent of colocalization (highlighted by arrowheads) is visible from overlays ([C], [F], [I], [L], [O], [R], and [U]).

(V) to (X) Immunogold localization of NHX6-GFP to the Golgi (g) and budding vesicles of the TGN (arrows) using anti-GFP antibody.

(X) Control labeling of wild-type seedlings was negligible.

Bars = 10 mm in (A) to (O), 15 mm in (P) to (U), and 50 nm in (V) to (X).

Endosomal NHX5 and NHX6 231

terms “structural constituent of the ribosome,” “translation,” and

“ribosome biogenesis” were also downregulated, suggesting

that protein translation may be restricted in nhx5 nhx6 (see

Supplemental Table 2 online). Interestingly, many cell wall–

related transcripts were also significantly downregulated, espe-

cially those associatedwith structural proteins (arabinogalactans

and facsilins), cell wall–modifying enzymes (expansins, xyloglu-

can endotransglycosylase, and hydrolases), as well as cell wall–

degrading enzymes (polygalacturonase) (see Supplemental

Table 2 online).

DISCUSSION

NHX5 and NHX6 Are Functionally Redundant and Play Key

Roles in Cell Proliferation and Cell Growth

We used a reverse genetic approach to generate single and

double knockouts of NHX5 and NHX6. Single nhx5 or nhx6

knockouts did not exhibit any obvious growth phenotypes and

closely resembled wild-type plants. Furthermore, transformation

of nhx5 nhx6 with either NHX5 or NHX6 rescued the nhx5 nhx6

phenotype.

Gene expression patterns further supported the observed

growth phenotypes of the knockouts. Gene expression in nhx5

and nhx6 were not only highly similar among each other but also

similar to the wild type. Based on our phenotypic analysis of

knockout and rescued lines, as well as gene expression patterns

in single and double knockout lines, we conclude that NHX5 and

NHX6 are functionally redundant. Nevertheless, the possibility

that either NHX5 or NHX6 may have yet unknown specific roles

remains open and cannot be excluded without further investi-

gation.

Unlike single nhx knockouts, the double knockout nhx5 nhx6

displayed drastically reduced growth and severely delayed de-

velopment compared with wild-type plants. This phenotype was

evident throughout development, from germination to flowering.

Smaller growth in nhx5 nhx6was duemostly to a smaller cell size

and slowed cell proliferation. Our data strongly suggest that

NHX5 and NHX6 have fundamental roles necessary for cell

expansion and cell proliferation rather than specific roles in cell

identity or differentiation. Live-cell imaging of growing root hairs

enabled themonitoring andquantification of growth at the single-

cell level and indicated that nhx5 nhx6 had one-third the rate of

tip growth of wild-type cells in addition to a possible partial loss

of tip-directed cytoplasmic streaming. Given the known depen-

dence of growing root hairs on profuse and polar vesicular

trafficking (Samaj et al., 2006), it is possible that trafficking of

vesicular cargo or the cargo itself may be affected in nhx5 nhx6.

Current data support that defects in vesicular traffickingmight be

a primary cause of the nhx5 nhx6 phenotype (discussed below).

NHX5 and NHX6 Localize to the Golgi and TGN

Fluorescent protein fusion assays and immunogold labeling

experiments indicated that both NHX5 and NHX6 are associated

with highly motile, punctate endosomal bodies. Both NHX5 and

NHX6 colocalized with the Golgi syntaxin SYP32 (Geldner et al.,

2009) and the TGN markers VHA-a1 (Dettmer et al., 2006) and

SYP61 (Robert et al., 2008), but not with the PVC marker SNX1

(Jaillais et al., 2008). Also, BFA caused the aggregation of NHX5-

and NHX6-positive bodies into BFA compartments, further

supporting a TGN or endosomal localization of both antiporters.

Furthermore, the differential response of NHX6 VHA-a1 and

Figure 7. Trafficking to the Vacuole Is Affected in the nhx5 nhx6 Double

Knockout.

Roots of wild-type and nhx5 nhx6 seedlings were stained with 4 mM

FM4-64 as described in Methods. The progression of endomembrane

staining was monitored in root tip cells over time. Arrows in (A), (B), and

(D) indicate FM4-64–positive endocytosed bodies. Arrows in (G) and (H)

point to chloroplasts. Bars = 10 mm in (A) to (F) and 25 mm in (G) and (H).

(A) and (B) Root tip cells after 15 min of FM4-64 addition. The wild type

(A) and nhx5 nhx6 (B).

(C) Wild-type root tip cells after 75 min of FM4-64 addition showing

labeling of vacuolar membranes (arrow heads).

(D) nhx5 nhx6 root tip cells after 95 min of FM4-64 addition. Note lack of

staining of the tonoplast.

(E) and (F) Formation of so-called BFA bodies in the wild type (E) and

nhx5 nhx6 root tip cells (F) (arrows). Seedlings were treated with 25 mM

BFA for 1 h before staining with FM4-64. Images shown were taken 15

min (E) and 30 min (F) after FM4-64 addition.

(G) and (H) Seedlings transiently expressing CPY-GFP in mesophyll cells

of wild-type (G) or nhx5 nhx6 (H) cotyledons. Note GFP fluorescence

inside cells in (G) and in apoplast (a) in (H). Arrows in (G) and (H) point to

chloroplasts.

232 The Plant Cell

NHX6 SYP32 to BFA indicated that NHX5 and NHX6may exist in

overlapping compartments (i.e., both TGN and Golgi). These

results are in agreement with the known differential response of

other Golgi and TGN proteins to BFA (Robinson et al., 2008). Our

data confirm earlier predictions that suggested that NHX5 and

NHX6 are localized to endosomal compartments similar to other

homologs (Brett et al., 2005a; Pardo et al., 2006; Orlowski and

Grinstein, 2007; Rodrıguez-Rosales et al., 2009). The localization

of NHX5 and NHX6 was assessed using C-terminal GFP/YFP

tagging; therefore, it is possible that the localization to the Golgi/

TGN may have been influenced by the presence of the tag.

Tagging of NHX5 and NHX6 in other parts of the proteins is

needed to confirm any effect of terminal tagging on localization.

Nevertheless, the recovery of the wild-type phenotype when

either NHX5-YFP or NHX6-GFP was expressed in the double

knockout nhx5 nhx6would argue against a possible interference

of C-terminal tagging with protein localization.

The TGN has emerged as an important sorting organelle

where secretory and endocytotic trafficking pathways converge

(Dettmer et al., 2006; Lam et al., 2009; Viotti et al., 2010). In

plants, localization of NHX5 and NHX6 to the TGN suggests

several possible functional roles for endosomal Na+/H+ antipor-

ters that are likely to be distinct from other vacuolar NHX iso-

forms. Nonfunctional TGN may cause missorting of vesicles

containing proteins, membrane, and cell wall components that

are necessary for cell expansion. Alternatively, given the local-

ization of NHX5 and NHX6 to the Golgi, vesicular cargo itself may

be affected due to defects in the posttranslational modification of

proteins and/or synthesis of cell wall polysaccharides. The latter

is supported by microarray data in which transcripts of a number

of cell wall–related enzymes (e.g., xyloglucan endotransglyco-

sylase) were significantly upregulated in nhx5 nhx6.

NHX5 and NHX6Mediate Vesicular Trafficking

In nhx5 nhx6 root tip cells, endocytosis was not significantly

affected because early endosomal bodies were observed after

FM4-64 application, similar to wild-type cells. Furthermore,

pretreatment of nhx5 nhx6 root tip cells with BFA caused the

expected formation of BFA compartments (containing FM4-64).

Together, these data indicate that early endocytotic steps were

probably not affected in nhx5 nhx6. Instead, we noted that in

nhx5 nhx6, the labeling of vacuoles with FM4-64 was either

severely inhibited or delayed. In addition to the delay in FM4-64

Figure 8. Transcriptional Profile of Single and Double Knockout Lines of NHX5 and NHX6.

(A) Heat map of all genes with significantly altered expression

(B) Transcripts associated with vesicular trafficking

(C) Transcripts involved in ABA related responses

F-27 and F-37 are the double knockouts nhx5-1 nhx6-1 and nhx5-2 nhx6-2, respectively. Upregulated genes are represented in red, while down-

regulated genes are represented in green. Expression is log2 transformed. Genes are clustered according to expression. Details of the transcriptional

analysis are described in Methods.

Endosomal NHX5 and NHX6 233

trafficking to the vacuole, we also noted a missorting of CPY to

the apoplast. Missorting of vacuole-destined cargo is a common

feature of several trafficking mutants (Fuji et al., 2007; Craddock

et al., 2008; Zouhar et al., 2009). These data implicate NHX5 and

NHX6 in roles at the TGN, Golgi, or related endosomal compart-

ments that either regulate or act as intermediates of cellular

cargo destined to the vacuole.

Transcriptional analysis identified a number of trafficking-

related transcripts with significantly altered expression in nhx5

nhx6, including VTI12, VSR1, RABF2a, VPS35, and ARFa1e,

among others. The SNARE VTI12 forms a complex with SYP41

SYP61 VPS45 at the TGN (Zouhar et al., 2009) that regulates

trafficking of storage proteins to vacuoles (Sanmartın et al.,

2007). RNA interference silencing of VPS45, an Arabidopsis

homolog of yeast Sec1, caused defects in vacuole formation,

mistargeting of vacuolar proteins, and a dwarf phenotype due to

small cell size (Zouhar et al., 2009). Similar phenotypes were also

noted for VPS35 knockouts, a PVC retromer component with

roles in storage protein trafficking (Yamazaki et al., 2008). The

Rab5 members, RABF2a (Rha1) and RABF2b (Ara7), localize to

the PVC and are implicated in transport to vacuoles and in

endocytosis (Sohn et al., 2003; Kotzer et al., 2004). Interestingly,

antisense ARF1 plants (the endosomal GTPase implicated in

vesicular transport) had smaller cells and a slower rate of cell

proliferation resulting in small plants (Gebbie et al., 2005; Xu and

Scheres, 2005). The phenotypic similarity of nxh5 nhx6 to ARF1

antisense plants and vps mutants is striking and strongly sup-

ports roles of NHX5 and NHX6 in trafficking to the vacuole.

EndosomalNHXsAreNecessary toMediate theResponseof

Arabidopsis to Salt Stress

The nhx5 nhx6 knockout exhibited extreme sensitivity to salinity,

especially at germination. The importance of endosomal NHXs in

salt tolerance has been demonstrated in close homologs of

NHX5 and NHX6. Nhx1D yeast mutants are similarly sensitive to

salt stress (Nass et al., 1997). Silencing of NHX2 in tomato also

led to an inhibition of plant growth as well as increased sensitivity

to salt (Rodriguez-Rosales et al., 2008). Given NHX5 and NHX6

localization and the observed defects in vacuolar trafficking in

nhx5 nhx6, it is possible that missorting of vacuolar transporters,

needed for salt sequestration, may be a cause of the high

sensitivity to salt. Endosomal trafficking, and especially vesicle

fusion to the vacuole, is increasingly considered an important

component of cellular responses to stresses such as high salt

and reactive oxygen species (Mazel et al., 2004; Leshem et al.,

2006; Hamaji et al., 2009). Additional tonoplast transporters with

roles in Na+ sequestration, such as NHX1 (Apse et al., 1999),

primary pumps (Gaxiola et al., 2001), and water channels (Sade

et al., 2010), also depend on vesicular trafficking for their delivery

to the tonoplast. It is therefore possible that NHX5 andNHX6may

affect protein trafficking from the Golgi/TGN to vacuoles, nec-

essary for response to high salt. The importance of excluding

deleterious cations, such as Na+, from accumulating in endo-

somes/PVC was also recently highlighted (Hernandez et al.,

2009). The upregulation of NHX5 transcripts in response to salt,

but not osmotic shock, supports a role for NHX5/NHX6 in the

response to salt (Yokoi et al., 2002).

Possible Functions of NHX5 and NHX6

The molecular basis for the trafficking defects we observe is

probably linked to K+ and/or pH homeostasis of endosomal

compartments. Little is known about the roles of K+ in endosomal

processes, but in yeast, Kex2/furin endoproteases require K+ as

a cofactor for thematuration of newly synthesized proteins of the

secretory pathway (Rockwell and Fuller, 2002). pH regulation,

however, is a well-known factor affecting endosomal protein

processing and trafficking. Organelles of the secretory and endo-

cytotic pathway have unique luminal pHs, generated by endo-

somal V-ATPases, as shown in animal systems (Marshansky and

Futai, 2008). Increasing acidity of endocytotic bodies correlates

with maturation and is a requisite for their delivery to lysosomes

(vacuoles). Similarly, anterograde vesicles also have progres-

sively decreasing pH (i.e., endoplasmic reticulum = 7.0; TGN =

6.5; apoplast = 5.5) that is critical for posttranslational processing

and sorting of newly synthesized material. It appears that this is

highly conserved across taxa. In humans, NHE isoforms are

distributed in discrete compartments of the endomembrane

system (Orlowski and Grinstein, 2007). Endosomal NHXs may

provide the H+ leak necessary to counter luminal acidification

generated by the V-ATPase and thus enable the maintenance of

organelle-specific luminal pH (Orlowski and Grinstein, 2007),

with important implications to processing and sorting of cellular

cargo.

Colocalization of NHX5 and NHX6 with VHA-a1 supports a

possible functional relationship between the antiporters and the

H+-pump. Reduced activity of the TGNVHA-a1 isoform caused a

cessation in cell expansion (Brux et al., 2008), and the V-ATPase

inhibitor Concanamycin A blocked endocytotic transport of

FM4-64 to the vacuole (Dettmer et al., 2006). Increased salt

sensitivity was also observed in the knockdown of the TGN/EE

V-ATPase isoform (Brux et al., 2008). A null mutant of the yeast

homolog Nhx1 (nhx1D) displayed aberrant accumulation and

processing of vacuolar-targeted proteins (Bowers et al., 2000; Ali

et al., 2004), which was linked to an observed acidification of

endosomes in nhx1D because weak base alleviated the protein

trafficking defects in nhx1D (Brett et al., 2005b). We expect that

endosomal pHmay be similarly affected in nhx5 nhx6, and efforts

are currently under way to measure endosomal pH. Overexpres-

sion of human NHE9, which is localized to late recycling endo-

somes, caused an increased the luminal pH of compartments in

which the proteins were localized, from mildly acidic pH to

cytosolic pH, suggesting that their in vivo function is to regulate

the pH and cation concentration (Nakamura et al., 2005). It was

recently shown that a pH-dependent interaction of vesicles with

Arf GTPase, ARNO (GDP/GTP exchange factor), and coat pro-

teins occurs and that V-ATPase acts as a scaffold to recruit Arf6 in

a pH-dependentmanner that is crucial to trafficking between early

and late endosomes (Hurtado-Lorenzo et al., 2006). Interestingly,

a SCAMP that was shown to bind to Arf6 and PLD1, and is also

involved in the redistribution of NHE7 from recycling endosomes

to the TGN (Lin et al., 2005), was significantly upregulated in nhx5

nhx6. These findings raise the interesting possibility that a

SCAMP, Arf6, and NHE7 may form a macromolecular complex

that functionally links endosomal acidification (V-ATPase), a NHE/

NHX alkalinizing mechanism, and protein trafficking. Collectively,

234 The Plant Cell

these data would support the notion that NHX5 and NHX6 might

regulate endosomal pH and K+ (Na+) homeostasis, which in turn

affects intracellular endosomal transport.

In conclusion, we demonstrated that normal growth and

development, as well as response to stress, require NHX5 and

NHX6 and that the two proteins are functionally redundant.

Unlike other Arabidopsis NHX isoforms, which are vacuolar, our

results show that NHX5 and NHX6 are localized to endosomal

compartments associated with the TGN and Golgi. Our data

highlight the importance of endosomal NHX antiporters in plants

and raise interesting questions on roles of NHX in protein pro-

cessing and trafficking of intracellular cargo.

METHODS

Plant Materials and Growth Conditions

Arabidopsis thaliana (ecotype Columbia [Col-0]) was grown at 228C under

diurnal light conditions (16 h light and 8 h dark) unless specified otherwise.

For plate-grown plants, modified Murashige and Skoog media (Spalding

et al., 1999) was used and complemented with 1% Phytagel (Sigma-

Aldrich), without sucrose. pH was adjusted to 5.7 with 1 M NaOH and

supplemented with 1 M NaCl to make final concentration of 1 mM Na+.

For salinity stress on plates, NaCl was added to the basal growthmedia to

final concentrations as indicated in the figure legends. Plates were

incubated at 228C under 12 h light and 12 h dark.

T-DNA insertion mutants (Col ecotype) (http://signal.salk.edu/cgi-bin/

tdnaexpress; http://www.gabi-kat.de/) for NHX5 were nhx5-1 (Wisc-

DsLox345-348M8) and nhx5-2 (GABI_094H05) and for NHX6 were

nhx6-1 (SALK_113129) and nhx6-2 (SALK_100042). Positions of T-DNA

insertion sites are shown in Supplemental Figure 3A online. Additional

T-DNA knockouts were nhx1-2 (SALK_065623) for NHX1 and nhx3-1 for

NHX3 (WiscDsLox345-348F19). RT-PCR analyses confirmed no or very

low DNA amplification with allele-specific primers from knockout-derived

cDNA. All single knockoutswere backcrossedwithCol wild-type plants at

least twice, and corresponding lines with single T-DNA insertions were

selected by DNA gel blot hybridization using the left border sequence as

the probe. Primer sequences for the confirmation of homozygous T-DNA

insertions are listed in Supplemental Table 3 online. Seeds expressing

AtVHA-a1-RFP were a gift from Karin Schumacher (Dettmer et al., 2006);

AtSYP61-RFP seeds were a gift from Natasha Raikhel (Robert et al.,

2008); AtSNX1-RFP seeds were a gift from Thierry Gaude (Jaillais et al.,

2008); and AtSYP32-RFP seeds were obtained from the Nottingham

Arabidopsis Stock Centre (Geldner et al., 2009). To generate double

reporter lines coexpressing VHA-a1, SYP61, SNX1, or SYP32 with either

NHX5-YFP or NHX6-GFP, homozygous parents were crossed using

NHX5-YFP or NHX6-GFP as pollen donors. The resulting F1 seedlings

were used for fluorescence microscopy (see below).

RNA Preparation and Expression Analysis

Total RNA was extracted from rosette leaves using the RNeasy Mini kit

(Qiagen) with six biological replicates, treated with DNaseI and subse-

quently purified with RNeasy RNA purification column (Qiagen). First-

strand cDNA was synthesized from 1 mg of total RNA with the QuantiTect

reverse transcription kit (Qiagen). Primer Express (Applied Biosystems

Life Technologies) was used to design primers. qPCR was performed on

the StepOnePlus (Applied Biosystems) using SYBR GREEN (Bio-Rad).

The reaction volume included 2 mL of template, 0.3 mL of reverse primer,

0.3mL of forward primer, 7.5mL of 2X SYBRGreenMasterMix, and 4.9mL

of RNA-free water (total 15 mL). qPCR was performed as follows: 958C

for 10 min follow by 40 cycles of 958C for 30 s and 608C for 30 s. The

2-DDCTmethod (Livak and Schmittgen, 2001) was used to determine the

relative mRNA using PP2A as an internal reference. Reference genes

were previously found to express similarly in all genotypes and organs

examined here. Primer sequences for RT-PCR and qPCR are listed in

Supplemental Table 3 online.

Plasmid Construction and Plant Transformation

NHX5-YFP and NHX6-GFP were constructed using Gateway technol-

ogy (Invitrogen). cDNAs from NHX5 and NHX6 (without stop codons)

were cloned into pDONR207 (Invitrogen) and recombined into pEarley-

Gate101 for YFP fusion and pEarleyGate103 for GFP fusion (Earley

et al., 2006). The constructs were introduced into Arabidopsis Col-0

plants expressing translational fusion proteins and into nhx5-2 nhx6-2

for complementation by Agrobacterium tumefaciens (GV3101) using

the floral dipping method (Clough and Bent, 1998). For CPY-GFP, an

N-terminal part of Saccharomyces cerevisiae CPY was fused with GFP

by PCR and cloned into pDONR207. Fusion cDNA of CPY and GFP was

recombined into pEarleyGate 100. Transient expression in cotyledons

of Arabidopsis seedlings was performed according to Marion et al.

(2008). Seedlings were kept in the dark until observation. A list of

primers is included in Supplemental Table 3 online.

Histological Analysis

Plant tissues were trimmed, immediately fixed in FAA (formalin, acetic

acid, and alcohol), vacuum infiltrated for 30 min, and left at 48C overnight.

Tissues were then rinsed three times with 70% ethanol and dehydrated in

a graded ethanol series (70, 85, 95, and 23 100%). Xylenes were

gradually incorporated into the tissues (1:3, 1:1, 3:1, and 23 100%)

before paraffin chips were added to the vials and kept on a rotary shaker

overnight at room temperature. Vials were then incubated at 428C for at

least 1 h before being transferred to a 608C oven. The xylene/paraffin

mixture was then replaced with 100% paraffin. Tissues were infiltrated

with molten paraffin for 3 d at 608C before being mounted and sectioned.

Five-micrometer-thick serial sections were cut using a Leica RM2125RT

rotary microtome (Leica Microsystems). Slides were dried at room

temperature and deparaffinized in 23 100% xylene for 2 min before

use in histological studies. Serial sections were stained with periodic

acid–Schiff for total carbohydrates and counterstained with amido black

10B for protein or toluidine blue O for general histological organization

(Yeung, 1999).

Chemical Treatment of Seedlings

Whole seedlings (4 d old grown on vertical plates) weremounted vertically

in liquid medium between slide and cover slip, separated by a Parafilm

strip spacer, and allowed to adjust in a humid glass chamber under

standard growth conditions for at least 12 h before observation. Liquid

culture medium had the same composition as plates but without

Phytagel. Only seedlings exhibiting abundant root hair growth were

selected for subsequent experiments and observations of roots and root

hair cells. Seedlings were treated while on slides and under microscopy

observation by perfusing medium containing treatment chemicals with

the aid of a piece of filter paper to pull solution from one end of the slide

while applying new medium at the other end. All dye and inhibitor

treatments were performed in this way. BFA was applied at 25 mM in

culture medium. For endocytosis and colocalization, roots were stained

with 4 mM FM4-64 for 5 min and washed.

Fluorescence and Light Microscopy

Fluorescence microscopy was performed using a Leica confocal laser

scanning microscope (DM RXE 6 TCS-SP2 AOBS) equipped with a 363

Endosomal NHX5 and NHX6 235

water immersion objective. The excitation wavelength was 488 nm, and

emission for GFP was 500 to 535 nm, for RFP was 565 to 605 nm, and for

FM4-64 was 620 to 670 nm. For multicolor imaging of GFP/RFP, CFP/

YFP, and YFP/RFP double reporter lines, sequential scanning was used

to avoid crosstalk between fluorescence channels. Images were pro-

cessed with ImageJ (http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/). Quantification of colocal-

ization was performed using the intensity correlation analysis plug-in of

theMBF ImageJ bundle according to Li et al. (2004). This analysis delivers

a coefficient, ranging from 0 for no colocalization to 0.5 for high

colocalization. Growth of root hair cells was estimated by tracking the

extension of root hair tips in a sequence (stack) of acquired images using

the Track Objects function of MetaMorph (Molecular Devices).

Electron Microscopy and Immunolocalization

Five-day-old seedlings grown on vertical plates were chemically fixed in

4% paraformaldehyde in 0.1 M phosphate buffer under vacuum (1 h) with

microwave assistance. Tissue was dehydrated and infiltrated with LR

White as outlined previously (Shipman and Inoue, 2009). Immunolabeling

was performed on ultrathin sections collected on Formvar-coated grids

using rabbit anti-GFP (1:200; Novus Biologicals) and goat anti-rabbit with

10-nm gold (1:50; BioCell International). Grids were stained with uranyl

acetate and lead citrate before viewing on a Phillips CM120 Biotwin (FEI)

at the University of California, Davis (Electron Microscopy Laboratory,

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine).

Microarray Analysis

Mature rosette leaves from 20 soil-grown plants of the wild type, nhx5-2,

nhx6-2, nhx5-1 nhx6-1 (F-37), and nhx5-2 nhx6-2 (F-27) were pooled for

RNA extraction (RNeasy Mini kit; Qiagen) into each of three replicates per

genotype. Residual DNA was removed with in-column DNaseI digestion.

The quality of RNA was determined using the Nanodrop ND-1000. Two

micrograms of total RNA from each genotype was used to generate

labeled amplified RNA using the GeneChip 39 IVT Express Kit package

(Affymetrix) and used to hybridize to the Affymetrix GeneChip following

the manufacturer’s instructions. Washing and staining steps were per-

formed using the GeneChip Fluidics Station 450. Arrays were scanned

with the GeneChip Scanner 3000 7G piloted by the Affymetrix GeneChip

operating software. GeneChip images were examined for visual aberra-

tions before performing normalization and statistical analysis (JMP Ge-

nomics 3.2; SAS Institute). Probe intensity signal valueswere transformed

to log2 scale and background normalized. A quality control procedure

was used to assess the hybridization quality between and within arrays.

To evaluate data quality, we first tested the distribution of row data

followed by principle component analysis. Because of the high quality of

the arrays, we performed mild data normalization using the standard

deviation procedure (SAS Institute) and reevaluated data quality after

normalization. In addition, we compared the output resulting from quan-

tile normalization and found that these did not differ significantly from

outputs obtained using the standard deviation procedure. Analysis of

variance was used to test differentially expressed transcripts between the

five genotypes (G). In the analysis of variance model, G and probe were

considered as fixed effects and array as a random effect. The threshold of

significance was based on a Bonferroni correction of P = 0.05 (Hochberg,

1988). Because Bonferroni correction yielded a gene expression com-

parison that was highly significant, only fold change was used as a

criterion for discussing differences in transcript expression. We also

compared subsets of genotypes using the same statistical procedure.

Two-way hierarchal clustering analysis was performed using normalized

probe set expression values. Probe sets were clustered according to

expression patterns, with distances between clusters defined by the

Ward method (SAS Institute).

Microarray data was processed using the ChipEnrich software, which

uses the Apache Commons Math library to calculate P values based on

hypergeometric distribution as described (Brady et al., 2007; Orlando

et al., 2009). This program can test for enrichment of GO terms (TAIR9;

August, 2009) based on singletons that map to a single Arabidopsis

Genome Initiative locus identifier on the ATHI GeneChip. Enrichment of

GO categories was analyzed as described by Brady et al. (2007). GO

annotations were downloaded from The Arabidopsis Information Re-

source (TAIR9; October, 2009). When analyzing the data, parent-child

relationships were not considered. GO categories were considered

statistically enriched within a given coexpression gene list if a P value

was < 0.001.

Phylogenetic Analysis

Phylogenic analysis was performed using the DNASIS sequence analysis

software (http://www.miraibio.com/dnasis-max/dnasis-max-overview.

html) with automatic multiple alignment settings. Parameters for “gap

penalty, K-tuple, number of top diagonals, window size, fixed gap penalty

and floating gap penalty” were 5, 2, 5, 12, 10, and 10, respectively.

Bootstrap values from at least 1000 trials were used.

Accession Numbers

Sequence data from this article can be found in the Arabidopsis Ge-

nome Initiative database under the following accession numbers: NHX5

(At1g54370), NHX6 (At1g79610), NHX1 (At5g27150), NHX3 (At5g55470),

VHA-a1 (At2g28520), SYP61 (At1g28490), SNX1 (At5g06140), and SYP32

(At3g24350). CEL files of all 15 Affymetrix GeneChips from this studywere

deposited in the public microarray database at the National Center for

Biotechnology InformationGene ExpressionOmnibus (https://www.ncbi.

nlm.nih.gov/projects/geo) under accession number GSE23210.

Supplemental Data

The following materials are available in the online version of this article.

Supplemental Figure 1. Phylogeny and Sequence Alignment of the

Arabidopsis Intracellular NHX Proteins (see Supplemental Data Set

1 online).

Supplemental Figure 2. Tissue-Specific Expression of NHX5 and

NHX6.

Supplemental Figure 3. T-DNA Insertion Mutants of NHX5 and

NHX6.

Supplemental Figure 4. Root Phenotype of the Double Knockout

nhx5 nhx6.

Supplemental Figure 5. Rescue of the nhx5 nhx6 Double Knockout.

Supplemental Figure 6. Phenotype of the Single Knockouts, nhx5-2

and nhx6-2, and the double Knockouts, nhx1 nhx5 and nhx3 nhx5,

When Grown under Salt.

Supplemental Figure 7. Subcellular Localization of NHX5 and NHX6

in Different Organs and Cell Types.

Supplemental Figure 8. Response of Double Reporters NHX6-GFP

VHA-a1-RFP and NHX6-GFP SYP32-RFP to Brefeldin A.

Supplemental Figure 9. Missorting of Carboxypeptidase in nhx5

nhx6 Epidermal Cells.

Supplemental Table 1. List of Transcripts Showing the Highest

Significant Fold Change between the Wild Type and nhx5 nhx6.

Supplemental Table 2. Changes in Most Significantly Enriched GO

Categories.

236 The Plant Cell

Supplemental Table 3. List of Primers Used in This Study.

Supplemental Movie 1. Movie of Figure 3C.

Supplemental Movie 2. Cytoplasmic Streaming of Root Hair Cells in

the Wild Type and the nhx5 nhx6 Double Knockout.

Supplemental Movie 3. Movie of Figure 5A.

Supplemental Movie Legends.

Supplemental Data Set 1. Text File of the Alignment Used for the

Phylogenetic Analysis Shown in Supplemental Figure 1A.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Natasha Raikhel for providing SYP61-CFP, Karin Schumacher

for VHA-a1-RFP, and Thierry Gaude for SNX1-RFP plants. We also

thank Ehud Katz, Georgia Drakakaki, Iana Kostina, and Ardian Coku for

helpful discussions and technical assistance. This work was supported

in part by grants from the National Science Foundation (MCB-0343279;

IOS-0820112) and the Will W. Lester Endowment, University of Cal-

ifornia, to E.B. Z.P. was supported by the Vaadia-BARD postdoctoral

Fellowship Award (FI-419-08) from the U.S.–Israel Binational Agricultural

Research and Development Fund.

Received September 10, 2010; revised December 20, 2010; accepted

January 3, 2011; published January 28, 2011.

REFERENCES

Aharon, G.S., Apse, M.P., Duan, S., Hua, X., and Blumwald, E. (2003).

Characterization of a family of vacuolar Na+/H+ antiporters in Arabi-

dopsis thaliana. Plant Soil 253: 245–256.

Ali, R., Brett, C.L., Mukherjee, S., and Rao, R. (2004). Inhibition of

sodium/proton exchange by a Rab-GTPase-activating protein regu-

lates endosomal traffic in yeast. J. Biol. Chem. 279: 4498–4506.

Apse, M.P., Aharon, G.S., Snedden, W.A., and Blumwald, E. (1999).

Salt tolerance conferred by overexpression of a vacuolar Na+/H+

antiport in Arabidopsis. Science 285: 1256–1258.

Apse, M.P., and Blumwald, E. (2007). Na+ transport in plants. FEBS

Lett. 581: 2247–2254.

Apse, M.P., Sottosanto, J.B., and Blumwald, E. (2003). Vacuolar

cation/H+ exchange, ion homeostasis, and leaf development are

altered in a T-DNA insertional mutant of AtNHX1, the Arabidopsis

vacuolar Na+/H+ antiporter. Plant J. 36: 229–239.

Bassham, D., Brandizzi, F., Otegui, M., and Sanderfoot, A. (Septem-

ber 30, 2008). The secretory system of Arabidopsis. In The Arabi-

dopsis Book, C.R. Somerville and E.M. Meyerowitz, eds (Rockville,

MD: American Society of Plant Biologists), doi/10.1199/tab.0116,

http://www.aspb.org/publications/arabidopsis/.

Bowers, K., Levi, B.P., Patel, F.I., and Stevens, T.H. (2000). The

sodium/proton exchanger Nhx1p is required for endosomal protein

trafficking in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol. Biol. Cell 11:

4277–4294.

Brady, S.M., Orlando, D.A., Lee, J.-Y., Wang, J.Y., Koch, J., Dinneny,

J.R., Mace, D., Ohler, U., and Benfey, P.N. (2007). A high-resolution

root spatiotemporal map reveals dominant expression patterns. Sci-

ence 318: 801–806.

Brett, C.L., Donowitz, M., and Rao, R. (2005a). Evolutionary origins of

eukaryotic sodium/proton exchangers. Am. J. Physiol. Cell Physiol.

288: C223–C239.

Brett, C.L., Tukaye, D.N., Mukherjee, S., and Rao, R.J. (2005b). The

yeast endosomal Na+K+/H+ exchanger Nhx1 regulates cellular pH to

control vesicle trafficking. Mol. Biol. Cell 16: 1396–1405.

Brux, A., Liu, T.Y., Krebs, M., Stierhof, Y.D., Lohmann, J.U., Miersch,

O., Wasternack, C., and Schumacher, K. (2008). Reduced V-ATPase

activity in the trans-Golgi network causes oxylipin-dependent hypo-

cotyl growth Inhibition in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 20: 1088–1100.

Clough, S.J., and Bent, A.F. (1998). Floral dip: A simplified method for

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant

J. 16: 735–743.

Craddock, C.P., Hunter, P.R., Szakacs, E., Hinz, G., Robinson, D.G.,

and Frigerio, L. (2008). Lack of a vacuolar sorting receptor leads to

non-specific missorting of soluble vacuolar proteins in Arabidopsis

seeds. Traffic 9: 408–416.

Dettmer, J., Hong-Hermesdorf, A., Stierhof, Y.D., and Schumacher,

K. (2006). Vacuolar H+-ATPase activity is required for endocytic and

secretory trafficking in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 18: 715–730.

Earley, K.W., Haag, J.R., Pontes, O., Opper, K., Juehne, T., Song, K.,

and Pikaard, C.S. (2006). Gateway-compatible vectors for plant

functional genomics and proteomics. Plant J. 45: 616–629.

Fuji, K., Shimada, T., Takahashi, H., Tamura, K., Koumoto, Y.,

Utsumi, S., Nishizawa, K., Maruyama, N., and Hara-Nishimura, I.

(2007). Arabidopsis vacuolar sorting mutants (green fluorescent seed)

can be identified efficiently by secretion of vacuole-targeted green

fluorescent protein in their seeds. Plant Cell 19: 597–609.

Gaxiola, R.A., Li, J.S., Undurraga, S., Dang, L.M., Allen, G.J., Alper,

S.L., and Fink, G.R. (2001). Drought- and salt-tolerant plants result

from overexpression of the AVP1 H+-pump. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.

USA 98: 11444–11449.

Gebbie, L.K., Burn, J.E., Hocart, C.H., and Williamson, R.E. (2005).

Genes encoding ADP-ribosylation factors in Arabidopsis thaliana L.

Heyn.: Genome analysis and antisense suppression. J. Exp. Bot. 56:

1079–1091.

Geldner, N., Anders, N., Wolters, H., Keicher, J., Kornberger, W.,

Muller, P., Delbarre, A., Ueda, T., Nakano, A., and Jurgens, G.

(2003). The Arabidopsis GNOM ARF-GEF mediates endosomal recy-

cling, auxin transport, and auxin-dependent plant growth. Cell 112:

219–230.

Geldner, N., Denervaud-Tendon, V., Hyman, D.L., Mayer, U., Stierhof,

Y.D., and Chory, J. (2009). Rapid, combinatorial analysis of membrane

compartments in intact plants with a multicolor marker set. Plant J. 59:

169–178.

Hamaji, K., et al. (2009). Dynamic aspects of ion accumulation by

vesicle traffic under salt stress in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell Physiol. 50:

2023–2033.

Hepler, P.K., Vidali, L., and Cheung, A.Y. (2001). Polarized cell growth

in higher plants. Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 17: 159–187.

Hernandez, A., Jiang, X.Y., Cubero, B., Nieto, P.M., Bressan, R.A.,

Hasegawa, P.M., and Pardo, J.M. (2009). Mutants of the Arabidopsis

thaliana cation/H+ antiporter AtNHX1 conferring increased salt toler-

ance in yeast: The endosome/prevacuolar compartment is a target for

salt toxicity. J. Biol. Chem. 284: 14276–14285.

Hochberg, Y. (1988). A sharper Bonferroni procedure for multiple tests

of significance. Biometrika 75: 800–802.

Hurtado-Lorenzo, A., Skinner, M., El Annan, J., Futai, M., Sun-Wada,

G.H., Bourgoin, S., Casanova, J., Wildeman, A., Bechoua, S.,

Ausiello, D.A., Brown, D., and Marshansky, V. (2006). V-ATPase

interacts with ARNO and Arf6 in early endosomes and regulates the

protein degradative pathway. Nat. Cell Biol. 8: 124–136.

Jaillais, Y., Fobis-Loisy, I., Miege, C., and Gaude, T. (2008). Evidence

for a sorting endosome in Arabidopsis root cells. Plant J. 53: 237–247.

Kotzer, A.M., Brandizzi, F., Neumann, U., Paris, N., Moore, I., and

Hawes, C. (2004). AtRabF2b (Ara7) acts on the vacuolar trafficking

pathway in tobacco leaf epidermal cells. J. Cell Sci. 117: 6377–6389.

Endosomal NHX5 and NHX6 237

Lam, S.K., Cai, Y., Tse, Y.C., Wang, J., Law, A.H.Y., Pimpl, P., Chan,

H.Y.E., Xia, J., and Jiang, L. (2009). BFA-induced compartments

from the Golgi apparatus and trans-Golgi network/early endosome

are distinct in plant cells. Plant J. 60: 865–881.

Leidi, E.O., Barragan, V., Rubio, L., El-Hamdaoui, A., Ruiz, M.T.,

Cubero, B., Fernandez, J.A., Bressan, R.A., Hasegawa, P.M.,

Quintero, F.J., and Pardo, J.M. (2010). The AtNHX1 exchanger

mediates potassium compartmentation in vacuoles of transgenic

tomato. Plant J. 61: 495–506.

Leshem, Y., Melamed-Book, N., Cagnac, O., Ronen, G., Nishri, Y.,

Solomon, M., Cohen, G., and Levine, A. (2006). Suppression of

Arabidopsis vesicle-SNARE expression inhibited fusion of H2O2-

containing vesicles with tonoplast and increased salt tolerance.

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103: 18008–18013.

Li, Q., Lau, A., Morris, T.J., Guo, L., Fordyce, C.B., and Stanley, E.F.

(2004). A syntaxin 1, Galpha(o), and N-type calcium channel complex

at a presynaptic nerve terminal: Analysis by quantitative immunoco-

localization. J. Neurosci. 24: 4070–4081.

Lin, P.J.C., Williams, W.P., Luu, Y., Molday, R.S., Orlowski, J., and

Numata, M. (2005). Secretory carrier membrane proteins interact and

regulate trafficking of the organellar (Na+,K+)/H+ exchanger NHE7. J.

Cell Sci. 118: 1885–1897.

Livak, K.J., and Schmittgen, T.D. (2001). Analysis of relative gene

expression data using real-time quantitative PCR and the 2(T)(-Delta

Delta C) method. Methods. 25: 402–408.

Marion, J., Bach, L., Bellec, Y., Meyer, C., Gissot, L., and Faure, J.D.

(2008). Systematic analysis of protein subcellular localization and

interaction using high-throughput transient transformation of Arabi-

dopsis seedlings. Plant J. 56: 169–179.

Marshansky, V., and Futai, M. (2008). The V-type H+-ATPase in

vesicular trafficking: Targeting, regulation and function. Curr. Opin.

Cell Biol. 20: 415–426.

Maser, P., et al. (2001). Phylogenetic relationships within cation trans-

porter families of Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol. 126: 1646–1667.

Mazel, A., Leshem, Y., Tiwari, B.S., and Levine, A. (2004). Induction of

salt and osmotic stress tolerance by overexpression of an intracellular

vesicle trafficking protein AtRab7 (AtRabG3e). Plant Physiol. 134:

118–128.

Nakamura, N., Tanaka, S., Teko, Y., Mitsui, K., and Kanazawa, H.

(2005). Four Na+/H+ exchanger isoforms are distributed to Golgi and

post-Golgi compartments and are involved in organelle pH regulation.

J. Biol. Chem. 280: 1561–1572.

Nass, R., Cunningham, K.W., and Rao, R. (1997). Intracellular seques-

tration of sodium by a novel Na+/H+ exchanger in yeast is enhanced by

mutations in the plasma membrane H+-ATPase. Insights into mecha-

nisms of sodium tolerance. J. Biol. Chem. 272: 26145–26152.

Nass, R., and Rao, R. (1998). Novel localization of a Na+/H+ exchanger

in a late endosomal compartment of yeast. Implications for vacuole

biogenesis. J. Biol. Chem. 273: 21054–21060.

Nebenfuhr, A., Ritzenthaler, C., and Robinson, D.G. (2002). Brefeldin

A: Deciphering an enigmatic inhibitor of secretion. Plant Physiol. 130:

1102–1108.

Numata, M., and Orlowski, J. (2001). Molecular cloning and charac-

terization of a novel (Na+,K+)/H+ exchanger localized to the trans-

Golgi network. J. Biol. Chem. 276: 17387–17394.

Ohgaki, R., Fukura, N., Matsushita, M., Mitsui, K., and Kanazawa, H.

(2008). Cell surface levels of organellar Na+/H+ exchanger isoform 6

are regulated by interaction with RACK1. J. Biol. Chem. 283: 4417–

4429.

Orlando, D.A., Brady, S.M., Koch, J.D., Dinneny, J.R., and Benfey,

P.N. (2009). Manipulating large-scale Arabidopsis microarray expres-

sion data: Identifying dominant expression patterns and biological

process enrichment. In Methods in Molecular Biology, Methods and

Protocols, Plant Systems Biology, D.A. Belostotsky, ed (New York:

Humana Press), pp. 57–77.

Orlowski, J., and Grinstein, S. (2007). Emerging roles of alkali cation/

proton exchangers in organellar homeostasis. Curr. Opin. Cell Biol.

19: 483–492.

Pardo, J.M., Cubero, B., Leidi, E.O., and Quintero, F.J. (2006). Alkali

cation exchangers: roles in cellular homeostasis and stress tolerance.

J. Exp. Bot. 57: 1181–1199.

Robert, S., Chary, S.N., Drakakaki, G., Li, S.D., Yang, Z.B., Raikhel,

N.V., and Hicks, G.R. (2008). Endosidin1 defines a compartment

involved in endocytosis of the brassinosteroid receptor BRI1 and the

auxin transporters PIN2 and AUX1. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105:

8464–8469.

Robinson, D.G., Jiang, L., and Schumacher, K. (2008). The endo-

somal system of plants: charting new and familiar territories. Plant

Physiol. 147: 1482–1492.

Rockwell, N.C., and Fuller, R.S. (2002). Specific modulation of Kex2/furin

family proteases by potassium. J. Biol. Chem. 277: 17531–17537.

Rodrıguez-Rosales, M.P., Galvez, F.J., Huertas, R., Aranda, M.N.,

Baghour, M., Cagnac, O., and Venema, K. (2009). Plant NHX cation/

proton antiporters. Plant Signal. Behav. 4: 265–276.

Rodriguez-Rosales, M.P., Jiang, X.Y., Galvez, F.J., Aranda, M.N.,

Cubero, B., and Venema, K. (2008). Overexpression of the tomato K

+/H+ antiporter LeNHX2 confers salt tolerance by improving potas-

sium compartmentalization. New Phytol. 179: 366–377.

Sade, N., Gebretsadik, M., Seligmann, R., Schwartz, A., Wallach, R.,

and Moshelion, M. (2010). The role of tobacco Aquaporin1 in

improving water use efficiency, hydraulic conductivity, and yield

production under salt stress. Plant Physiol. 152: 245–254.

Samaj, J., Muller, J., Beck, M., Bohm, N., and Menzel, D. (2006).

Vesicular trafficking, cytoskeleton and signalling in root hairs and

pollen tubes. Trends Plant Sci. 11: 594–600.

Samaj, J., Read, N.D., Volkmann, D., Menzel, D., and Baluska, F.

(2005). The endocytic network in plants. Trends Cell Biol. 15: 425–433.

Sanmartın, M., Ordonez, A., Sohn, E.J., Robert, S., Sanchez-Serrano,

J.J., Surpin, M.A., Raikhel, N.V., and Rojo, E. (2007). Divergent

functions of VTI12 and VTI11 in trafficking to storage and lytic

vacuoles in Arabidopsis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 3645–3650.

Shi, H., Ishitani, M., Kim, C., and Zhu, J.-K. (2000). The Arabidopsis

thaliana salt tolerance gene SOS1 encodes a putative Na+/H+ anti-

porter. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97: 6896–6901.

Shi, H., Quintero, F.J., Pardo, J.M., and Zhu, J.-K. (2002). The putative

plasma membrane Na(+)/H(+) antiporter SOS1 controls long-distance

Na(+) transport in plants. Plant Cell 14: 465–477.

Shipman, R.L., and Inoue, K. (2009). Suborganellar localization of

plastidic type I signal peptidase 1 depends on chloroplast develop-

ment. FEBS Lett. 583: 938–942.

Sohn, E.J., Kim, E.S., Zhao, M., Kim, S.J., Kim, H., Kim, Y.W., Lee, Y.

J., Hillmer, S., Sohn, U., Jiang, L.W., and Hwang, I.W. (2003). Rha1,

an Arabidopsis Rab5 homolog, plays a critical role in the vacuolar

trafficking of soluble cargo proteins. Plant Cell 15: 1057–1070.

Sottosanto, J.B., Gelli, A., and Blumwald, E. (2004). DNA array

analyses of Arabidopsis thaliana lacking a vacuolar Na+/H+ antiporter:

impact of AtNHX1 on gene expression. Plant J. 40: 752–771.

Spalding, E.P., Hirsch, R.E., Lewis, D.R., Qi, Z., Sussman, M.R., and

Lewis, B.D. (1999). Potassium uptake supporting plant growth in the

absence of AKT1 channel activity: Inhibition by ammonium and

stimulation by sodium. J. Gen. Physiol. 113: 909–918.

Venema, K., Belver, A., Marin-Manzano, M.C., Rodrıguez-Rosales,

M.P., and Donaire, J.P. (2003). A novel intracellular K+/H+ antiporter

related to Na+/H+ antiporters is important for K+ ion homeostasis in

plants. J. Biol. Chem. 278: 22453–22459.

Viotti, C., et al. (2010). Endocytic and secretory traffic in Arabidopsis

238 The Plant Cell

merge in the trans-Golgi network/early endosome, an independent

and highly dynamic organelle. Plant Cell 22: 1344–1357.

Xu, J., and Scheres, B. (2005). Dissection of Arabidopsis ADP-RIBO-

SYLATION FACTOR 1 function in epidermal cell polarity. Plant Cell 17:

525–536.

Yamaguchi, T., Apse, M.P., Shi, H.Z., and Blumwald, E. (2003).

Topological analysis of a plant vacuolar Na+/H+ antiporter reveals a

luminal C terminus that regulates antiporter cation selectivity. Proc.

Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100: 12510–12515.

Yamaguchi, T., Fukada-Tanaka, S., Inagaki, Y., Saito, N., Yonekura-

Sakakibara, K., Tanaka, Y., Kusumi, T., and Iida, S. (2001). Genes

encoding the vacuolar Na+/H+ exchanger and flower coloration. Plant

Cell Physiol. 42: 451–461.

Yamazaki, M., Shimada, T., Takahashi, H., Tamura, K., Kondo, M.,

Nishimura, M., and Hara-Nishimura, I. (2008). Arabidopsis VPS35, a

retromer component, is required for vacuolar protein sorting and

involved in plant growth and leaf senescence. Plant Cell Physiol. 49:

142–156.

Yeung, E.C. (1999). The use of histology in the study of plant tissue

culture systems - Some practical comments. In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol.

Plant 35: 137–143.

Yokoi, S., Quintero, F.J., Cubero, B., Ruiz, M.T., Bressan, R.A.,

Hasegawa, P.M., and Pardo, J.M. (2002). Differential expression and

function of Arabidopsis thaliana NHX Na+/H+ antiporters in the salt

stress response. Plant J. 30: 529–539.

Zouhar, J., Rojo, E., and Bassham, D.C. (2009). AtVPS45 is a positive

regulator of the SYP41/SYP61/VTI12 SNARE complex involved in

trafficking of vacuolar cargo. Plant Physiol. 149: 1668–1678.

Endosomal NHX5 and NHX6 239

DOI 10.1105/tpc.110.079426; originally published online January 28, 2011; 2011;23;224-239Plant Cell

Zvi Peleg, Toshio Yamaguchi and Eduardo BlumwaldElias Bassil, Masa-aki Ohto, Tomoya Esumi, Hiromi Tajima, Zhu Zhu, Olivier Cagnac, Mark Belmonte,

and Necessary for Plant Growth and Development Antiporters NHX5 and NHX6 Are Endosome Associated+/H+ Intracellular NaArabidopsisThe

 This information is current as of March 12, 2020

 

Supplemental Data /content/suppl/2011/01/13/tpc.110.079426.DC1.html

References /content/23/1/224.full.html#ref-list-1

This article cites 68 articles, 36 of which can be accessed free at:

Permissions https://www.copyright.com/ccc/openurl.do?sid=pd_hw1532298X&issn=1532298X&WT.mc_id=pd_hw1532298X

eTOCs http://www.plantcell.org/cgi/alerts/ctmain

Sign up for eTOCs at:

CiteTrack Alerts http://www.plantcell.org/cgi/alerts/ctmain

Sign up for CiteTrack Alerts at:

Subscription Information http://www.aspb.org/publications/subscriptions.cfm

is available at:Plant Physiology and The Plant CellSubscription Information for

ADVANCING THE SCIENCE OF PLANT BIOLOGY © American Society of Plant Biologists